Hlaudi saves the day for cricket

MILLIONS of South Africans were denied live coverage of the first Twenty20 international between India and the Proteas in Dharamsala on Friday when the SABC pulled the plug on ball-by-ball radio commentary at the 11th hour.

But the broadcaster has promised that the commentators will be on air for the second match of the series in Cuttack tomorrow.

And who do South Africans have to thank for that? None other than the SABC’s R3.7-million man, chief operations officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

“This issue came to my attention (on Friday), and I instructed the team to provide commentary,” Motsoeneng told Sunday Times yesterday. “I only get involved if there is a problem, and I did intervene. The issue is resolved.”

So it would seem. “There will be commentary from Monday,” SABC head of sport Bessie Tugwana said yesterday.

“We just had a minor disagreement with the rights-holders.” She declined to elaborate on the nature of the disagreement.

That’s a dramatic turnaround

Final decision: Reason for no coverage no return on investment

from the situation on Thursday, when production staff and commentators — who had been assured in August that they would work on the India tour — were given 28 hours notice that their services would not be required.

The news came in the form of a text message from Diane Reimer, the head of radio sport, that read: “Please note the final decision has been made we will not cover the India tour — please cancel all arrangements and inform your staff and freelancers accordingly. Reason for no coverage no return on investment.”

Contacted yesterday, Reimer put down the phone after saying, “I shouldn’t be talking to you, I can’t comment further.”

Thursday’s news left SABC staff and freelancers asking how an organisation can say it is concerned with returns on investment when it hands out increases of almost R1-million.

Last month it emerged that Motsoeneng’s salary had been adjusted from R2.8-million to R3.7-million. Top level SABC radio commentators earn around R25 000 for working on all five days of a test.

Motsoeneng bristled defensively when that view was put to him: “Your question is wrong. What I’m getting is the benchmark. I work hard for that money. In fact, people in similar positions earn more than I do. No one has raised as much funding for the SABC as I have.”